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American Morning
Interview With Alex Prud'homme
Aired January 21, 2004 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Martha Stewart's legal trouble stems from her sale of ImClone stock more than two years ago, but is only part of the ImClone story. A new book called "The Cell Game" takes a revealing look at the many aspects of the scandal, including that relationship between Martha Stewart and company founder Sam Waksal.
The author, Alex Prud'homme, is with us today on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to see you.
Good morning to you.
ALEX PRUD'HOMME, AUTHOR, "THE CELL GAME": Good morning.
HEMMER: Before we talk about the players, how do you think her personality and the perception of that will play based on what we saw yesterday in court?
PRUD'HOMME: I think it's absolutely crucial. You know, Martha has been somewhat of a divisive personality over the years. My own experience is that, I've met her a few times and she's always been extremely charming to me. On the other hand, in working on "The Cell Game," I interviewed quite a few people who worked with her and the stories you hear about her terrible temper are true.
The question is how will she play in the courtroom? It all comes down to her presentation. And yesterday apparently she was speaking very softly. I think she's really toned it down. She's obviously been well coached.
HEMMER: So it's one thing to have a temper, it's another thing to break a crime.
PRUD'HOMME: That's right. Yes, that's true.
HEMMER: And that's what this hinges on.
Is there any proof right now that she lied?
PRUD'HOMME: That's one of the central questions. We know that she has told some slight untruths, for example, that she said to the investigators that she had spoken to Peter Bacanovic on the day of her stock trade, when, in fact, he was on vacation and his assistant, Douglas Fanueil, was the one she spoke to. Now, is that an outright lie? Is it a mistake? That's for the jury to decide. HEMMER: I thought, you mentioned Bacanovic. I thought one interesting thing yesterday, apparently when he entered court about five minutes after she did, there was an exchange of pecks on the cheek.
PRUD'HOMME: That's right. Right, kissy, kissy friends.
HEMMER: You read about that?
PRUD'HOMME: Yes, sure.
HEMMER: What does that tell you?
PRUD'HOMME: That they're still tight, they're still talking. They're mutually supportive. They're in this together and they're going to probably back each other.
HEMMER: Well, there are two characters now we've talked about. The third one is Sam Waksal.
PRUD'HOMME: Yes.
HEMMER: What was his relationship with Martha Stewart?
PRUD'HOMME: Well, Sam and Martha go way back to the early '80s. They originally met at a social function and became close friends, a very deep, interesting relationship between the two of them. Sam dated her daughter Alexis, who is almost 20 years her junior. Martha invested not only in ImClone, but in four or five other companies that Sam was involved with. And Martha had a very strong personal interest in cancer, because many people she knew had suffered from cancer, including her husband, her former husband. She lost a brother-in-law to cancer.
So she very closely tracked the development of Erbitux, which was the drug. And they spoke, Sam and she spoke virtually every day, sometimes at six in the morning. And the question is what did she know maybe uniquely that others didn't and when did she know it?
HEMMER: So was she in a position then, based on a relationship, to get information that would help her?
PRUD'HOMME: It would seem that way and that's one of the things the investigators are certainly going to look at.
HEMMER: Thanks, Alex.
Alex Prud'homme.
The book is out. It's called "The Cell Game."
Nice to talk with you.
PRUD'HOMME: Thanks for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 21, 2004 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Martha Stewart's legal trouble stems from her sale of ImClone stock more than two years ago, but is only part of the ImClone story. A new book called "The Cell Game" takes a revealing look at the many aspects of the scandal, including that relationship between Martha Stewart and company founder Sam Waksal.
The author, Alex Prud'homme, is with us today on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to see you.
Good morning to you.
ALEX PRUD'HOMME, AUTHOR, "THE CELL GAME": Good morning.
HEMMER: Before we talk about the players, how do you think her personality and the perception of that will play based on what we saw yesterday in court?
PRUD'HOMME: I think it's absolutely crucial. You know, Martha has been somewhat of a divisive personality over the years. My own experience is that, I've met her a few times and she's always been extremely charming to me. On the other hand, in working on "The Cell Game," I interviewed quite a few people who worked with her and the stories you hear about her terrible temper are true.
The question is how will she play in the courtroom? It all comes down to her presentation. And yesterday apparently she was speaking very softly. I think she's really toned it down. She's obviously been well coached.
HEMMER: So it's one thing to have a temper, it's another thing to break a crime.
PRUD'HOMME: That's right. Yes, that's true.
HEMMER: And that's what this hinges on.
Is there any proof right now that she lied?
PRUD'HOMME: That's one of the central questions. We know that she has told some slight untruths, for example, that she said to the investigators that she had spoken to Peter Bacanovic on the day of her stock trade, when, in fact, he was on vacation and his assistant, Douglas Fanueil, was the one she spoke to. Now, is that an outright lie? Is it a mistake? That's for the jury to decide. HEMMER: I thought, you mentioned Bacanovic. I thought one interesting thing yesterday, apparently when he entered court about five minutes after she did, there was an exchange of pecks on the cheek.
PRUD'HOMME: That's right. Right, kissy, kissy friends.
HEMMER: You read about that?
PRUD'HOMME: Yes, sure.
HEMMER: What does that tell you?
PRUD'HOMME: That they're still tight, they're still talking. They're mutually supportive. They're in this together and they're going to probably back each other.
HEMMER: Well, there are two characters now we've talked about. The third one is Sam Waksal.
PRUD'HOMME: Yes.
HEMMER: What was his relationship with Martha Stewart?
PRUD'HOMME: Well, Sam and Martha go way back to the early '80s. They originally met at a social function and became close friends, a very deep, interesting relationship between the two of them. Sam dated her daughter Alexis, who is almost 20 years her junior. Martha invested not only in ImClone, but in four or five other companies that Sam was involved with. And Martha had a very strong personal interest in cancer, because many people she knew had suffered from cancer, including her husband, her former husband. She lost a brother-in-law to cancer.
So she very closely tracked the development of Erbitux, which was the drug. And they spoke, Sam and she spoke virtually every day, sometimes at six in the morning. And the question is what did she know maybe uniquely that others didn't and when did she know it?
HEMMER: So was she in a position then, based on a relationship, to get information that would help her?
PRUD'HOMME: It would seem that way and that's one of the things the investigators are certainly going to look at.
HEMMER: Thanks, Alex.
Alex Prud'homme.
The book is out. It's called "The Cell Game."
Nice to talk with you.
PRUD'HOMME: Thanks for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
